Racist and Sexist Stereotypes in Disney’s AladdinDisney has come under fire in recent years for the obvious racist and sexist visuals and sounds that appear in countless Disney children movies. The movie Aladdin is full of racist stereotypes dealing with the Middle East and its people and also sexist stereotypes against women. These stereotypes are found all throughout the movie and are obvious. There is no attempt to hide them; the remarks are blatantly stated and shown constantly within the natural flow of the movie.

In the opening scenes of the movie you can see a darker man riding a camel in traditional Arab clothing. The man is traveling through a desert with the sun beaming down on him. This scene is very typical when the Middle East is thought of. Sure part of the Middle East is covered in desert but that is only a small part of it. Some parts of the Middle East are covered in lush forest and mountains with wide rivers running through, and camels are not the only form of transportation in the Arab world. These images are only a small part of what the Middle East contains. This stereotype is a big one and is abused in the Disney movie.

While this opening scene is going on a disturbing song is accompanying it. The song is playing played by traditional Arab instruments the singer is a man with a thick Arab accent. The typical Middle Eastern music is not the main issue with this scene. When you listen to the words you can hear the man singing, “Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” What are the Disney songwriters teaching children about the Middle East with this line? Are they trying to say that people from the Middle East are ruthless and will commit an act of violence without a reason? This message is harmful to a child and could influence the way they look at people from the Middle East. By representing them in this racist way in a children’s movie, the children watching are influenced to...

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...Racism: discrimination which exemplifies stereotypical differences between the ethnic groups to which people belong. While Disney animated films are the ideal family movies, it is undisclosed to many that such racism is being portrayed. Disney’s movie Aladdin (1992), “was a high-profile release, the winner of two Academy Awards, and one of the most successful Disney films ever produced” (Giroux, 104); however, what is often disregarded is the obvious depiction of careless racism towards Arabs seen in the illustrations of the characters, the statuses into which they are placed and the lyrics of the opening song near beginning of the film. Furthermore, with the movie disguising itself as innocent and wholesome, children are exposed to these stereotypes at a young age.
Henry Giroux and Jack Zipes give some important information in their essays to further append on this notion.
The opening song “Arabian Nights” at the beginning of Aladdin is one of the most contentious messages found in the film and begins the movies “depiction of Arab culture with a decidedly racist tone” (Giroux, 104). An Arab merchant sings the lyrics: "Oh I come from a land/From a faraway place/Where the caravan camels roam./Where they cut off your ears/If they don’t like your face./It’s barbaric, but hey, its home" (Giroux, 104). The message that is given right at the beginning of the film is that the Middle East is a desolate...

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Ashley Ioveno
Aladdin Review
Aladdin Receives A Standing Ovation During its First Night On Broadway
Disney’s “Aladdin”, a new musical comedy based on the 1992 Academy Award-winning animated film, began preview performances at Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre on February 26 and will officially open on March 20. Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, the show features music by Tony Award and Oscar winner Alan Menken, with lyrics by Oscar and Tony Award winner Howard Ashman along with Oscar winner Tim Rice. Tony Award winner, Casey Nicholaw directed and choreographed this new enchanting production.
Aladdin stars Adam Jacobs in the title role, Courtney Reed as Jasmine, James Monroe Iglehart as Genie and Tony Award nominee Jonathan Freeman as Jafar. Freeman, who voiced his character in the original film, returns in this live action stage production. Although this Broadway adaptation kept around some old friends including Iago, (Don Darryl Rivera,) they also added some new ones.
Aladdin gains three trusty pals, Babkak, Kassim and Omar (played by Brian Gonzales, Brandon O'Neill and Jonathan Schwartz.) The trio received a new song just for them, titled “Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim.” The song explains how no matter what, the boys will always have Aladdin’s back. Even though “Al” gains some new friends, his iconic monkey sidekick Abu, is sadly left out....

...﻿The implications of the findings of the HSRC study on sexist and raciststereotypes in school textbooks for teachers in the classroom.
“Politicians are seen as cheaters, liars, and ear bugs and they have no compassion for regular citizens”, “People with tattoos are seen as rebellious , irresponsible, unintelligent and uncivilized “, “That girl who has bleach blonde hair and bright red lipstick is such a Barbie, she must not be very clever”, “Look at that guy chatting to that girl, we all know exactly what is on his mind”, “Ugh these old people always walk so slowly!”, “It must be a women, only women don’t know how to drive” – All of these judgements are stereotypes within society, they are discriminatory towards groups of people that are inaccurate. In today’s society stereotypes are becoming more and more common; they are found everywhere and unfortunately it is becoming more and more “socially acceptable” to “judge” another person – even though it is completely inaccurate and wrong to do so.
Stereotyping is an oversimplified, usually judgmental attitude people hold towards others outside of their own familiarity. It is usually a result of partial or warped information accepted as fact without question. It is merely a widely held idea that an individual is a member of a certain group based on their characteristics. Due to the practice of overgeneralization within social perception, stereotyping...

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Kaley Batchlear
October 28, 2014
Dr. Simons
Monopoly Paper #3
Throughout the course of this twisted Monopoly, many themes and stereotypes arose to become apparent. However the two main themes that I observed were gender biases and stereotypes involving race and inequality. These two themes became apparent through the traits and personality the players began demonstrating as the game went on. It was obvious that the blue male (which would represent a white male in real life) became greedy and aggressive as he was set up to be successful and of course was. You then see how player three and five become unsuccessful because of how the game is set up. This represents the stereotype of a woman who is considered an inferior. As the game went on these players were very cautious of every decision they made because it was made obvious that each one was indeed very critical to any success they strived to achieve. By the end of the game it was extremely apparent to everyone that certain opportunities were given to certain people in the game. This basically made it impossible for them to lose this game. This theme however then transfers to reality in that the stereo typical white male will usually be given a much better opportunity then say an African American female. The two articles that I chose reflects the two themes of race and gender stereo types and how they correspond with success or opportunities.
In the first article,...

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Running head: BLATANT RACISM IN WALT DISNEY’S ALLADIN AND PRINCESS AND THE FROG
Blatant Racism in Walt Disney’sAladdin and Princess and the Frog
Benjamin Abdelsayed
Bayonne High School
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Blatant racism in Walt Disney’sAladdin and Princess and the frog
Abstract
Disney blatantly uses racism in a lot of their children movies. Though racism is found in a lot of movies other then Disney’s. Disney viewers are mostly kids and to feed such negative content to innocent children with such moldable minds is outrageous. Aladdin is a great example of Disney’s blatant racism. One example of racism in Aladdin is that Aladdin and Jasmine are very clearly Americanized while the other characters are clearly Arabic with Arab features and traits. With the Princess and the Frog Disney made it seem that they are turning things around by making the very first African American princess but did Disney really change anything? Some argue the fact that Tiana’s mother working for her privileged best friend while Tiana and her mother struggle to make ends meat is racist. The fact that Tiana was not in her human form most of the time makes it seem as if Disney has not changed.
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Blatant racism in Walt Disney’sAladdin and Princess and the frog...

...﻿Defying Roles of SexistStereotypes
The book 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is centered around an eclectic family living in the solitude of Macondo for seven generations. As the members of the Buendia family live their lives, they find themselves in a repeating cycle of sins committed by the original Buendias. Out of everything the family does to escape their troubles, nothing seems to work. In and around the family there are only few individuals who keep them from completely spiraling out of control and they all happen to be women. Within the book, Marquez tends to put women in the stereotypical female societal roles. The characters, however, defy their roles and become the few people to hold the family together. Three important women in 100 Years of Solitude are Ursula Buendia: the housewife, Pilar Ternera: the mysterious whore, and Remedios the Beauty: the crazy yet beautiful woman. Although they are labeled with sexiststereotypes, they become some of the strongest and most beneficial characters to saving the Buendia family from their original sins.
Ursula Buendia, although one of the original Buendias, is the strongest and most powerful woman in the book. She committed the original sin of incest with her husband/cousin Jose Arcadio Buendia, but it was provoked by him and not her. Ursula resisted having sex with Jose Arcadio Buendia because she did not want her child to have a...

...attention of many. How and why do multi-billion industries resort to overly cheesy, and sometimes cringe-worthy, stereotypes?
At a very young age, many children are exposed to movies, whether at the theater or on videos at home. One major producer of children’s movies is the Disney corporation. These animated films are often perceived as innocent and wholesome. Given the influence the Disney ideology has on children, it is imperative for parents, teachers and other adults to understand how such films attract the attention and shape the values of the children who view and buy them.
One of the earliest examples of this kind of stereotype is in Fantasia (1940). In one of the scenes of Fantasia, the Sunflower Centaur scene to be exact, there are numerous of African centaurs hoof-polishing handmaidens for prettier, Aryan centaurs. It was insulting enough for Disney to include the smiling servant stereotype to begin with, but, to make matters worse, they started categorically denying Sunflower's existence with the Fantasia re-release in 1960. How does that possibly make things better? It’s as if Disney was saying that in their perfect world of Fantasia, African’s aren’t slaves, they don’t even exist!
Another perfect early example of stereotypes in Disney movies is the classic Dumbo (1941), which has been noted for its near blatant portrayal of African-American stereotypes. In the children’s movie,...

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March 5, 2013
Aladdin and Women in Islam
Christiane Staninger may not be as opposed to the idea that Jasmine’s character in Aladdin is similar to the Islamic woman’s real life as other critics are. Critics voiced that Disney produced a film that supported the stereotypical views of the Middle East. Western culture believes that women in Saudi Arabia are mistreated by their husbands and seen as inferior. The focus of this article (Disney’s Magic Carpet Ride: Aladdin and the Women in Islam by Christiane Staninger) is on the misinterpretations we as Americans may have about Middle Eastern women using views of professional critics and a group of eighth grade girls with Jasmine from Aladdin as the prime example. Christiane Staninger states “I centered my analysis on the nature and implications of the co-protagonist, Princess Jasmine, the Valley Girl in veils.”(1)
Staninger touches upon a few different questions. “Why has this character been so appealing to American teenagers for a decade?”(Staninger 65) The second topic is “Jasmine’s representation as a prototypical Middle Eastern woman and her reception by non-Middle Eastern audiences” (Staninger 66). The third topic is the educated truth about life as an Islamic woman.
Why is it that we have souvenirs and memorabilia of the princess’s in the Disney movies? “She was created to embody the strong, independent young woman, the new ideal of young...